Liberty man sentenced to 8 ½ years in connection with Shop Rite robbery

May 22, 2012 —

Sullivan County District Attorney Jim Farrell announced today that James Taurino, 39, of Liberty, N.Y. was sentenced in Sullivan County Court to 8 ½ years in state prison and 5 years of post release supervision for Robbery in the 2nd Degree.

According to Farrell, Taurino admitted to forcibly stealing property from the Shop Rite on Route 52 in the Village of Liberty on August 28, 2011, and during the course of the robbery causing injury to an employee of the store.

Taurino had stolen a shopping cart full of meat when he was approached by the store manager, in an attempt to get the stolen property back. Taurino drove his vehicle at the manager who had to jump on the hood to avoid being run over and was injured, sustaining a broken ankle, when he was thrown from the vehicle in the parking lot.

Taurino fled and was later involved in a vehicle pursuit in the same car in the Town of Newburgh the next day. Taurino crashed the vehicle and fled on foot and was not apprehended by Town of Newburgh officers who tracked him with a K9.

Village of Liberty police responded and found the hat that Taurino was wearing at the time of the robbery and a package of meat that was left in the vehicle from the Liberty Shop Rite. Officers also noted damage to the vehicle consistent with the events in the parking lot in Liberty as well as the NY plates.

Taurino was ultimately arrested by City of Newburgh Police after a disturbance at a Rite-Aid in the City of Newburgh on September 7, 2011, and turned over to Liberty Police on the robbery. Farrell said that Taurino was sentenced as a second felony offender having a prior conviction for Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the 4th Degree in March of 2011 and was on parole for that charge at the time of this crime.

“The Village of Liberty Police worked very hard to put this case together though interviews and following up on leads and as a result this man has been removed from our society for an extended period of time.”, Farrell said.